Creating Win Strategies and Themes

When responding to an RFP with lots of requirements, it's easy to lose track of your message. Win strategies and themes are how your message makes it into the document. They are the difference between a proposal that is descriptive and a proposal that is persausive. Themes are how you sell in writing. But to present an effective message and develop your theme statements, you first have to plan the right strategies for winning.

When you think about it, proposal writing is really about telling a story. All too often, the story is written by authors who are responsible for different chapters with no clear idea of the setting, the characters, the ending, or even the moral of the story. Find out how themes can not only help you tell your story, but make the difference between winning and losing.

I'll give you a hint — it has nothing to do with an inability to be creative with words. If you find yourself working on a proposal and struggling to identify your win strategies, and you can't discriminate yourself from the competition, the problem may have nothing to do with the proposal or the people trying to write it.